Aston Villa made a mistake with Trezeguet.
The Egypt international arrived at the club in the summer for a fee of £8.25m, and he really hasn’t shown his best since his big move to England.
Across 31 games in all competitions, he has scored four goals and registered three assists.
For a player who is 25 and who has won 44 caps for his country, that really isn’t good enough.
There did appear to be an olive branch extended to the club when reports from Haber Kartali, via Sports Mole, claimed that Besiktas were interested in taking him to Turkey in the summer, ending his spell in the Midlands after a single campaign.
However, he has now aired his desire to see out his contract at the club, which runs until 2023.
Did he really play for us?! No Villa fan has managed to name all of these obscure Villans….
Per Kingfut, he said: “I am linked to a contract for the next five years with Aston Villa, and I am committed to the contract.
“Playing in the English Premier League was a dream for me, so I am completely focused on that step.”
This only sharpens the focus on the mistake made by Jesus Garcia Pitarch, otherwise known as Suso, when he secured the signing of Trezeguet in the summer.
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He came in following a season with Turkish outfit Kasimpasa, in which he scored nine goals and registered nine assists in the Super Lig. They finished 14th in the league table, just two points clear of the relegation zone.
Thus, splashing £8.75m on him and giving him a five-year contract feels like an error and, ultimately, it means that Trezeguet’s future is in his own hands.
Should he decide that he wants to remain at Villa, and it certainly appears that he has made that decision, they may well be stuck with him.
He hasn’t set the world alight but the hope, one has to think, is that he will eventually spark into life and deliver on the promise that convinced Villa to splash the cash.
As it is, though, he hasn’t done it yet.
Meanwhile, Villa got one thing totally wrong in the summer!